Education; Whether the State Board of Education Properly Dissolved and
Reconstituted the Bridgeport Board of Education. The city of Bridgeport's school district has been designated a "low achieving district" as
contemplated by General Statutes § 10-223e (c) (1) for seven consecutive years.
The school district has failed to meet standards established by both the state board
of education and the No Child Left Behind Act, and Bridgeport schoolchildren
have performed poorly on both the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut
Academic Performance Test. In July, 2011, the state board of education, acting
on a resolution passed by a majority of the members of the Bridgeport board of
education, exercised its power under General Statutes § 10-223e (h) to
authorize the commissioner of education to reconstitute the Bridgeport board of
education. The commissioner of education dissolved the existing nine-member school
board and established a new board made up of members appointed by the
commissioner. Three lawsuits were brought to challenge the state board of
education's action. Among the plaintiffs in the suits are displaced members of
the dissolved Bridgeport board of education, parents of Bridgeport
schoolchildren and people who had hoped to run for seats on the Bridgeport board of education in the November, 2011 municipal election. At the request of
the parties to the three suits, the trial court reserved the following
questions for the advice of the Supreme Court: "(1) Did the state board of
education violate General Statutes § 10-223e (h) in its decision to authorize
the commissioner of education to reconstitute the Bridgeport board of
education? (2) Does § 10-223e (h) violate the home rule provision of article
tenth, § 1, of the state constitution? (3) Does § 10-223e (h) violate the free
suffrage provision of article sixth, § 4, of the state constitution? (4) Does
§ 10-223e (h) violate article first, §§ 1, 4 and 20, of the state
constitution? (5) Did the Bridgeport board of education have the legal power
or authority to adopt a resolution requesting that the state board of education
reconstitute the Bridgeport board of education?"